Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio sued by feds

IMMIGRANTS

Los Angeles Times

Published 4:00 am, Friday, September 3, 2010

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced it had sued Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, for failing to turn over documents in an investigation of whether his aggressive operations against illegal immigrants had violated civil rights.

The litigation came two months after a Justice Department lawsuit halted a tough new Arizona immigration law, which Arpaio strongly supported. The new lawsuit is unrelated to the immigration law and stems from an investigation into the sheriff's immigration enforcement operations.

"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, in a statement.

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Arpaio called the lawsuit "a ruse" and said the federal government is just trying to score a win against the state, which has found itself at the center of the nation's argument over illegal immigration.

For more than three years, Arpaio has attracted praise as well as condemnation for using his deputies to track down illegal immigrants. The most high-profile example is his so-called "sweeps," during which deputies flood immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, stop people for infractions such as driving with a broken taillight and check their immigration status.